student love

two of ishaq’s student’s have invited us for dinner at their house.
the first
– lawd, i can’t remember these turkish names –
i’d seen in a pictures ishaq took
when he went to a waterfall
on mt. erciyes.
the young man only had one brother,
so it was just me and his mom hanging out together.
it was pretty sad,
cause my turkish was better than her english
– which ain’t saying much –
so she had to keep calling her son in to translate.
while he’s an eager student,
it still took him a moment or so
and many-a-time
he had to call in the turkish english teacher
to help us out.
she fed us like we hadn’t eaten in a week:
mantı (a turkish pasta soup),
chicken, salad, soup, rice with carrots and peas,
a bakhlava-type pastry.
THEN tea, roasted mixed nuts, and a plate of fruit EACH.
the apples on the fruit plate
where from the student’s father’s orchard.
they were the most delicious apples i’ve tasted in turkey, mashAllah.
ishaq showed him pics of family and friends from facebook,
the student showed us pictures of his school trips.
his mom told me that she loved me.
i laughed, said mashaAllah, and that i really LIKED her, too.
i’m guessing that’s what she meant.

the second student
invited us to his father’s villa for breakfast.
we drove up mt. erciyes
in two cars with two other families
past stone-walled properties
to the gate of a beautiful house
with a fantastic view of the city
and the surrounding countryside.
this student’s father sold things like drying racks
– i haven’t seen a home without one –
and was “quite rich”, as the translation went.

about two-thirds of the property was a house,
a yard with small gardens on two sides,
a shed and a covered parking area.
the other third were fruit-bearing trees,
strawberry patches, and untilled soil waiting for the spring.
he had granny smith apples!
nice and tart.
i also tasted a quince.
well, i tried to taste a quince.
it was too hard to bite.
maybe it needed to be cooked or something.

interestingly, under the living room
was a cistern where they stored and pumped
fresh spring water into the house.

outside, a beautiful table was set turkish-style
with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
they grilled some meat patties, ribs, and eggplant
on a small barbecue.
some of the interestingly tasty things
i tried for the first time were
tomato preserves
– sweeter than any preserves that i’ve tasted –
and some delicious green, slimy stuff i found out was figs.

the kids played in the garden
with hands, shovels and sticks.
grownups ran their mouths over full bellies.
neighbors and relatives kept joining us.
obama was mentioned.
photos were taken.
they kept moving the table,
chasing the sunshine.
we made salat,
drank tea and coffee
– i had water. LOVE the su –
ate a bit more
then left amidst thanks-yous and kisses.